The present invention concerns a device for measuring flight parameters of an aircraft and more precisely the airspeed, sideslip angle and angle of attack of the aircraft including at least one optical sensor placed at the level of the radome. It also concerns the aircraft incorporating a measuring device of this kind.
The measurement of flight parameters such as airspeed is commonly effected with the aid of a Pitot tube, in particular. The Pitot tube is a device taking the form of a tube in which a flow of air is contained and leads to a pressure increase measured by a differential pressure gauge. The pressure gauge also receives the measured surrounding pressure from another port mounted on the fuselage and deduces the airspeed of the aircraft from this by computation.
The document U.S. Pat. No. 6,038,932 discloses an aircraft provided with a pressure measuring device of the above kind for obtaining the airspeed and the altitude of the aircraft. The document emphasizes the disadvantages of the Pitot tube such as, for example, imperfect operation of the Pitot tube in the case of excessive angles of attack. The basic idea of the document in question is to alleviate these disadvantages and notably at extreme angles of attack by placing the Pitot probes at the level of the radome, i.e., directly in the flow of air.
The document US2015329216 discloses a device for determining the airspeed of the aircraft from sensors placed on the radome enabling measurement of the deformation and deduction of the airspeed from the latter. However, the electrical cables that are positioned between the radar and the sensors can have an impact on the radio-frequency performance of the radar.
The document US2014/0229139 reveals a device for determining the airspeed of the aircraft from the deformation measured by sensors placed on the tail or the wing but not the radome which has a very particular configuration.
The document CN103913592 describes a device for measuring the speed and the direction of the wind using a fiber optic detector and whose only application is surveillance of a meteorological environment.
An object of the present invention is to propose a device making it possible to offer an alternative to the use of a Pitot probe having the disadvantage of imperfect operation in the event of excessive angles of attack as revealed in the cited prior art or in the event of icing up, etc.